ZOMBIE (1979)

(aka. "Zombi 2", "Zombie Flesh-Eaters")

Starring: Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch, Richard Johnson, Al Cliver, Auretta Gay, Stefanie D'Amario, Olga Karlatos. Written by Elisa Briganti & Dardano Sacchetti (uncredited). Directed by Lucio Fulci. Italy. 91 minutes.

"Da faddah of my faddah always say, when da eart shpit out dee dead they will come bahk to suck dee blood of dee leeving."

This unauthorized sequel to Romero's masterful Dawn of the Dead (which was released in Europe as Zombi) is the film that really put Fulci on the map as the king of tasteless, extreme splatter movies. The film opens with a seemingly deserted boat drifting into New York Harbor. A couple of NY's Finest hop on board to investigate and discover some putrifying flesh and a big, fat, biscuit-eating looking motherfucker of a zombie aboard. The zombie gnoshes on one of the cops (SHRRRRRIP!), eagerly wolfing down some NYPD neck tissue, before the cops' partner empties his 38. into the shambling revenant's torso (evidently this Pig, like most law enforcement dips, ain't too bright or he would know that you're s'posed ta SHOOT 'EM IN THE HEAD!!!). The zombie pitches overboard. Sploosh! As it turns out the boat belongs to one Dr. Menard, whose daughter Ann (Farrow) hasn't heard from in ages. Fearing for her old man, she sets out to the Carribean islands in search of him accompanied by reporter Peter West (McCulloch), ethnologist Brian (Cliver) and his girlfriend Susan (Gay). When they get there they find that Dr. Menard has created a disease that causes the dead to rise and (suh-PRISE!) eat the living! With the sound of voodoo drums in the distance, the last remaining white folks on the island gather in a wooden shack to make on last stand against the living dead. Although it's the film that he's probably best known for and the one that gave him his first taste if real international exposure, Zombie is FAR from being one of Fulci's best. After a relatively interesting opening, the movie just takes FOREVER to get rolling. In spots it drags its feet slower than the title monsters! But what make this worthwhile (dare I say a must-see for fans of the cannibal corpse genre) are the simply marvellous set-pieces. Like most of Fulci's work, Zombie has a porno movie structure - uninspired, obligatory dialog scenes used to thread together those "money shots" (porno-speak for cum-shot) that are the sole reason the audience is there in the first place. But o-boy, those money shots do NOT disappoint. Highlights include an unbelievable underwater sequence in which a zombie does battle with a shark (guess who eats who?) and a by now legendary moment in which Dr. Menard's wife Paola (Karlatos) has a gigantic splinter slooooowly driven into her eyeball, the propitious event captured and preserved for all-times in loving close-up. And then there's that pretty solid pay-off at the climax, a scene that will have every zombie movie fan giggling with glee as walking corpse's have their heads blown off, get burnt up, and are generally demolished. No, this ain't no masterpiece by any stretch, even a Mr.Fantastic/Plastic Man kinda stretch, but after 20 years since its release Fulci's sleazy little opus is still good for a few yocks. ** 1/2 Two and a Half Skulls Full of Maggots * Dead meat, ripe n' reeking. ** Moribund, but showing a slight flicker of life. *** Good and healthy. **** Brimming with vitality.